Habs Notebook - Dec. 11, 2008

Sniffle-gate: With Carey Price still getting over a cold, Jaroslav Halak will get the nod tonight against the Lightning.

“Carey wasn’t feeling great this morning, so we figured it wasn’t worth taking any chances,” said head coach Carbonneau. “Halak also played really well against Calgary. We’re lucky to have two No. 1 caliber goalies who are good friends that push each other.”

Higgy not about to get jiggy: After being hurt against the Flames on Tuesday night, Christopher Higgins will not be in the lineup against Tampa Bay or perhaps even the foreseeable future.

“We have the results of Chris’ MRI, but he hasn’t seen the doctor about them, yet,” explained Carbonneau. “Until he does, we don’t know how long he will be out. Will it be a week, two weeks? We still don’t know for sure.”

The ultimate warrior: After breaking his arm on Tuesday night versus the Flames, Mathieu Dandenault went under the knife yesterday. The fallen defenseman was a hot topic of discussion in the room this morning.

“He’s been in the league for a longtime, he’s won Stanley Cups; the guy has done it all in his career and he still stayed out there and played despite being hurt,” said Dandenault’s locker room neighbor, Josh Gorges. “Seeing that just makes us all want to suck it up more the next time we get a shot off the foot or something. We are all inspired by what Dandy did.”

Latendresse ready to dress: Fresh off watching his team’s last four games from the press box, Guillaume Latendresse couldn’t help but smile once he found out he would be back in uniform tonight.

“Carbo didn’t have to say anything. Seeing my name on the board was all I needed to know,” smiled Latendresse. “I was a little nervous when I arrived this morning not knowing whether I was going to play. I’m pretty relieved, now.”

When a reporter tried to rain on the winger’s parade by claiming that Carbo had little choice but to put him back in the lineup due to the sudden rash of injuries, Latendresse fired this zinger at the cheeky journalist.

“How about you? Did your station not have a better option but to send you here this morning?” quipped Latendresse, much to the delight of the other media members within earshot.